UPDATE: 5 Things to know about the Sandy Lane Gold Cup 2019
[UPDATE: 6:00 pm, Saturday, March 2, 2019]
Celestial Storm wins and Infrared places second, with Night Prowler in third.
[Original Story: 10:45 am, Saturday, March 2, 2019]
Eleven races are on the card for the Garrison Savannah in Barbados today, Saturday, March 2, 2019, but all eyes will be on Race 9 - the Sandy Lane Gold Cup.
For the horseracing enthusiasts and the clueless, here are some facts about this year's race, which is set for 4:30 pm.
1. Creoles for Gold Cup 2019
There are three recent imports for this year's Gold Cup race - Bodie Tap, Night Prowler, and Burndines (Antigua).
2. 80 % of the trainers are first-timers
Only two trainers responsible for horses in the 2019 Gold Cup have previous Gold Cup wins under their belts.
The two trainers are - Liz Deane with three Gold Cup wins, and her cousin Richard Deane has one Gold Cup win to his name.
3. Hopefield Stables
The Seale's have seven wins under their belts - six in the colours of Sir David and one in Lady Seale. They have Night Prowler and Debonaire David in the Gold Cup 2019 Race.
4. Jalon Samuels
The race-day rider for Night Prowler is Jalon Samuels, and he will be eyeing Gold Cup win number four. If he wins today, that will be his fourth win. However, this would be Jalon's fifth time crossing the finish first in five Gold Cup races, but on the first occasion, he got an unfortunate DQ.
5. Refire
All the money seems to be on Night Prowler, with many eyes still on Bodie Tap and the Stars, however, Trainer Richard Deane who handles both Refire and Infrared, said that Refire is the 'Dennis Rodman' of the pack. He said Refire is an erratic guy but he's serious in a race, so watch out.
With these few facts in the bag, if you're planning to place a bet, remember, as they say, it's a horse race and any horse can win on the race day.
Commentator Lindon Yarde also advised viewers to pay attention to Race 9 from start to finish, because "it's going to be jostling for the front 10 for sure, so it's going to be a very quick Gold Cup and you wouldn't want to blink!"
